The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-11-10
A SUPPLY OF PURE WATER
Careful Analysis ofthe Water Furnished
by the Indianapolis Water Company.
Prof. ]. N. Hurry Shows II to Be the Best of
Any City in the Union-Driven
Wells Not Always Safe.

The question as to the purity of the water
supply of this city, in view of the long and I'M
broken drought is discussed never before.
The unusual prevalence of typhoid and typho-
malarial fevers has brought all sources of our
water supply under suspicion. Yesterday MORN
ing. learning that Prof. j. n Hurry, the chem
list, had just completed careful analysis of the
water works water, reporter called upon him
to learn the result of his investigation.
''There has been so much said ON the subject. .
said Professor Hurry, that was prompted to
make an exhaustive sanitary analysis of the
water furnished by the Indianapolis Water Com
pany."
with what resultP
II find it changed somewhat from what it was
when the gallery was first opened. The water
is harder for one thing, its hardness having
nearly doubled It was six and one-half degrees;
it now shows twelve degrees of hardness. This
disproves the accusation sometimes made that
the company draws its supply from the river"
''How so2'
''For the reason that the river water shows
only four degrees of hardness. This shows con-
clusively that the water as delivered at the fau-
Gets could not possibly have come from the river
The solids have also increased from twenty-five
parts to thirty five parts"
ITO what do you attribute that factW
''To the drought. The quantity of chlorine
found is very low, although somewhat more
than primarily existed in the water. Chlorine
itself is not inimical to health In analyses we
determine the chlorine because chlorine is an
ingredient of sewage and if it be found IN I'M
usual quantity-say much as three or four
parts in the hundred thousand then we suspect
the water under examination to have been re-
Gently In contact with sewage. Every one has
observed that urinals and manure heaps give
forth strong odors of ammonia. Hence, when
ammonia is found in large quantities in drinking
water suspect that it is due to bad assocla-
tions. The water works water shows but two
one-thousandth parts of ammonia in one hundred
thousand of the water-an in6nitessimal
amount less than rain water contains.
''In polluted waters there always exists albu-
men like matter. This matter is pollution in
solution, and the nitrogen it contains be
changed into ammonia by chemical processes in
the retort If these chemical transformations
yield a large amount of this form of ammonia
we know positively that this albumenoid matter
which can proceed from animal sources alone
exists in the water in dangerous quantities. The
waterworks water contains only seven-thou-
sandth part of albumenoid ammonia in 10000
parts Double this quantity is allowable before
the water even becomes suspicious.
''All organic matter when III solution absorbS
oxygen with avidity. Now, measure of the
quantity of oxygen which this water Will alb
sorb furnishes valuable data for judging of its
sanitary condition. Waterworks water absorbS
in each one hundred thousand parts 47-1OOO
part of oxygen Water of great organic purity
may absorb as much as lilo part in
100000 parts that is 100000 parts-that is
twice much. So that if our water-works
water absorbed just double the amount 1T could
still be classed as of great organic purity.
GA very valuable test of the purity of water Is
its odor. This the chemist proceeds to deter
mine by taking chemically clean glass jar,
filling it one fourth full of the water under ex-
animation, heating it to 100 degrees Fahrenheit
and smelling of it. OF course the clean jar
gives forth no odor whatever and all odor. If
o%a11
self An odor is generally an accompaniment
of organic decomposition. The water works
water when submitted to this test has no odor.
what about the muddiness of the water that
is sometimes noticed~ inquired the interviewer.
Pure earth" replied Prof. Hurry, (which is
the cause of this muddiness. is not disease-pro-
ducing in any of the word: its unslghtl-
ness is all that can be objected to-"
rs there any contamination of water in deep
driven wells2' asked.
Deep driven-well water is generally of excel
lent quality, but there are some deep wells that
furnish badly polluted water. Dr. Van Mugs, of
the State University, some years ago made ex-
hatstive analyses of the driven-well waters of
this city. Out of ten deep driven city wells the
water of three proved to be unfit for drinking.
These were located near the railroads on South
Illinois street, one on Virginia avenue. A driven
well recently sunk in the rear of Harrisons old
bank, on Washington street, was found to be
totally unfit for use. The deep-driven wells at
the postoffice. at Vance Block, and also in In
gals Block are of excellent quality. 1t is well
known that two strata of water exist beneath
this city. It appears, however, that these run
together-there is no hard-pan between in
number of places. When such is the case the
second water is, of course, no better than the
surface water of the first stratum. person
who has deep driven we'll should not take it as
a matter of course that he is getting pure water"
Professor Hurry then showed the following as
his analysis of the water companys water:
Parts in IOO. 900.
Appearance in two-foot tube family opalescent.
Odor when heated to 1000 F. none
Free ammonia oO2
Albumenod ammonia .OOI
Oxygen absorbed in Is minutes. -........--. .Ol6
Oxygen absorbed in 4 hours .O47
Total hardness L degrees
Total SoIdS oo.A
'sWhen did you make this test" inquired the
interviewer, land whence came the water you
analyzedl
''This analysis was made yesterday, Tuesday,
Nov. s, and by the way, it was all-days job,
without dinner. The water tested was drawn
from a faucet in my laboratory-not taken from
the water companys gallery-but as showing
exactly the water that is delivered through the
city"
water when it shows such purity as given in
your analysis"
1T is wholly unnecessary to boil it. 1t con-
tains pollution and minimum of organic
matter"
''Eow does it compare in purity with the
water supplies of other cities2"
''It is far superior to that of any other city in
the Union of which have knowledge. If any
city has pure water supply it is Indianapolis,
as furnished BY the water companv.o